A256596 a(n) is the number of iterations of the map x->sigma(x) when starting from n before arriving at a number with more than one ancestor, with a(1)=0 and where sigma is the sum of divisors.

0, 6, 5, 4, 2, 1, 3, 2, 3, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 4, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 3, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 4, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1

Offset: 1

Author

Michel Marcus, Apr 03 2015

Keywords

• nonn

Comments

That is, before arriving at a number x such that A054973(x) > 1.

Examples

			For n=2, the repeated map gives 2 -> 3 -> 4 -> 7 -> 8 -> 15 -> 24 where 24 is the first fork with sigma(15)=sigma(23)=24, so with 6 iterations starting from 2 we have a(2)=6, a(3)=5, a(4)=4, a(7)=3, a(8)=2, and a(15)=1.
		

Links

• G. L. Cohen and H. J. J. te Riele, Iterating the sum-of-divisors function, Experimental Mathematics, 5 (1996), pp. 93-100.

Crossrefs

Cf. A000203, A054973, A085790, A216200, A241954.

Programs

PARI

isfork(n) = {my(nba = 0); for (i=2, n-1, if (sigma(i) == n, nba++); if (nba > 1, return (1)););}
a(n) = {if (n==1, return (0)); my(nbit = 0); ok = 0; while (! ok, newn = sigma(n); nbit++; ok = isfork(newn); n = newn;); nbit;}